title: Mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons expressing neuromedin K receptor (NK3): a double immunocytochemical study in the rat
abstract: By using a double immunocytochemical method we examined the distribution of dopaminergic neurons expressing neuromedin K receptor (NKR; NK3) in the rat brain. The distribution of NKR-like immunoreactive (-LI) neurons completely overlapped that of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-LI neurons in the retrorubral field (A8), substantia nigra (A9), ventral tegmental area and nucleus raphe linealis (A10). Completely or partially overlapping distributions of NKR- and TH-LI neurons were found in certain regions of the hypothalamus (A11-A15) and olfactory bulb (A16). Neurons showing both NKR- and TH-like immunoreactivities, however, were only found in A8-A10: All of the NKR-LI neurons displayed TH-like immunoreactivity, and about 71-86% of the TH-LI neurons expressed NKR-like immunoreactivity. The present results provided morphological evidence for physiological modulation of dopaminergic neurons by tachykinins through NKR in A8-A10.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy and K.K. Leung Brain Research Centre, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi'an 710032, China
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Guan
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Ding